Love Stinks!
by SPB
Summary: (Story inspired and requested by Supernova2015.) Pepper Clark is torn up when another perfectly good opportunity to confess her feelings to Captain Cuddles slips by. So her friends hatch a plan to help Pepper, not only to be alone with Captain Cuddles, but also to give her the chance to say what needs to be said.


It was another fine day in Downtown City, if it a bit warmer than usual for early Fall. But the pets of _Littlest Pet Shop_ didn't mind, for them it just meant more days spent in the crisp sunshine on walks with their owners, or sometimes their good friend Blythe Baxter.

But on this fateful day, the day camp's usual patrons were entertaining a visitor, one that Pepper in particular had quite the fascination with, Captain Cuddles. While she'd gotten over her shyness about just being in the same general room as the weasel, the skunk still found herself inevitably blushing and getting tongue tied if she stared for too long into his beautiful eyes.

"Wait, you mean, it doesn't bother you when I… you know?" Pepper trailed off, too ashamed to admit what she was perhaps most notorious for.

Captain Cuddles just laughed. "Pepper, you are a skunk, skunks smell. It is as simple as that. It would be no different than if you were bothered by me clawing or pawing at things because I am weasel," He replied. "Though I must admit, having clothespins provided to me for free by your friends was a good call on their part. You are quite the smelly one."

Pepper would usually take offense to such a remark, but Captain Cuddles was different. In fact, she playfully ribbed him a bit as she teased. "Yeah? Well, you're no flower either, Captain."

Captain Cuddles laughed right along with Pepper, and their combined laughter was easily heard amidst the relative quiet of the day camp.

It did not last long, however. All of a sudden, Mrs. Twombly came strolling into the daycamp and turning her eye towards Captain Cuddles she announced. "Okay, Captain Cuddles. Your owner's here, it's time for you to go."

Into the room strolled a fine looking young man of caucasian descent, his bright red hair clearly having been brushed. His green eyes looked down at his pet, and he held out a sleeve dressed in a simple t-shirt colored white. "Come on, Captain Cuddles. Let's go home and get you some dinner." The man declared, as the weasel scampered up his sleeve. Pet and owner left the day camp a moment later, though not before Captain Cuddles waved goodbye to all the pets, and blew a kiss to Pepper.

* * *

Almost immediately, the mood changed. Whereas before it had been bright and cheerful, now it suddenly seemed as though the sunny weather had been replaced with clouds, and the temperature had dropped to Fall like conditions. At least, that's what it seemed to the other pets as they turned their attention towards Pepper who seemed to be holding back a frown.

"Pepper, are you okay?" Zoe asked her feminine friend.

Pepper didn't respond, she walked right past her friends, never acknowledging their presence. She climbed straight up into the fire hydrant slide, curling up into a tight ball. But soon, loud sobs could be heard coming from the distraught skunk, and the smell of her distress was quickly made known to the pets' noses. "I messed up another perfectly good opportunity to confess to Captain Cuddles, again!" She bawled! "Gosh, I'm such an idiot! Why can't I just tell him?! Four simple words: 'I love you, Captain!' That's all I need to say! Why can't I do it?! What's wrong with me?! Why do I have be such a helplessly romantic skunk?!"

"Gosh, poor Pepper," Penny Ling commented. "Do you think I should give her a hug? That always makes me feel better."

"Somehow, I do not believe hugging will cheer Pepper up, Penny Ling," Sunil replied with a shake of his head. "When Pepper gets like this, it takes more than mere hugs and kind words to cheer her up. If only there was some way we could help her out."

"But how?" Russell asked out loud. "I'm not an expert on love, in fact none of us are. It's not like we can just get Pepper and Captain Cuddles together and let ther affections come forth."

But at that very moment, the gears in Zoe's dog mind began to turn. And she got that smile she always got when she became fixated on one of her "fantasies" as the pets had taken to calling them. "That's it, Russell! You're a genius!" Zoe happily exclaimed! "I could kiss you, if you know you weren't a hedgehog and all."

"Wait, are you serious? _I_ gave you an idea?!" Russell exclaimed, as if Zoe were speaking in a completely foreign language he couldn't understand.

Zoe nodded, and motioned for the other pets (minus Pepper) to huddle in with her. "Listen carefully," She whispered to them. "Here's how we're gonna fix Pepper's love problem once and for all. And if we play our cards right, Pepper will thank us for this later."

* * *

The next day, Pepper seemed to be feeling a little bit better. The events of yesterday didn't seem to be weighing heavily on her mind anymore, though a faint ring around the eyes suggested that she _might_ have cried herself to sleep.

But as the skunk strolled into the day camp, she was surprised at what she saw. Blythe was there in the day camp, as she often was, but she was clipping leashes onto the pets.

"Blythe?" Pepper asked, as though surprised to see the teenage girl.

Blythe just smiled, as she turned to Pepper. "Hello, Pepper," She greeted in a cheerful tone, as she clipped a leash carefully around the skunk's neck. "It's such a nice day, and your friends felt it'd be nice to get some fresh air. I checked with Mrs. Twombly, and she said that'd be okay, just as long as I make sure to feed all of you and clean up after all of you. Come on, you don't wanna spend a day like today all cramped up in the day camp," Holding onto the leashes, Blythe turned to all of the pets (as Pepper joined them) and declared. "Okay, is everyone ready?" The pets all nodded. "Okay, let's go."

"Go where?" Pepper asked, as the pets were led out of the day camp.

Blythe just winked. "The destination's not as important as the journey. Now come on, you've never been this antsy about a simple walk before."

* * *

It turned out that Blythe's destination was Downtown City Park, and it seemed that many pet owners had had the same idea. Several of Blythe's friends and classmates were there with their parents, Youngme with Nutmeg and Buttercream (no doubt borrowed from Aunt Christie), Josh Sharp with Fluffy Lightning, even Whittany and Brittany Biskit along with their mom and the family pets Cashmere, Velvet, and Poppy Pawsley.

"Wow, the park sure is crowded today!" Blythe exclaimed, as she found a bench near the center of the park, sat down, and carefully undid the leashes. "Okay guys, go have fun. Just remember, play nice with other pets. And if you do your business, let me know where so I can clean it up."

"Don't worry, Blythe, we will!" The pets all said at once, then they all rushed off one by one to find something to do.

Pepper followed, though for some suspicious reason she soon found herself falling behind the other pets. And no matter how hard she called out to them with phrases like: "Hey, wait for me, guys!" or "Could we maybe slow down for the skunk, please?", they didn't slow down. Soon, Pepper found herself all alone, as if that had been her friends' plan from the beginning. But why would they do such a thing?

The skunk wondered so much over this, that she forgot to watch where she was going. Suddenly, she felt herself bump into something, or someone. A familiar, handsome voice called out. "Ah, Pepper Clark! To what do I owe the esteemed pleasure on such short notice?"

Pepper found herself staring straight at the beautiful eyes of Captain Cuddles. "Captain Cuddles?!" She exclaimed!

"Indeed, I'm glad to see you again," Captain Cuddles smiled, laughing a bit. "I must say, we seem to be seeing each other a lot lately."

"Uh, yeah, uh… it's… kind of weird." Pepper blushed, trailing off again. She was at a loss for words, even though she was certain this meeting was fate intervening on the sake of her romantic desires.

An awkward and uncomfortable silence prevailed for the next several minutes, it quickly becoming clear that Pepper wasn't going to say anything (even if she really wanted to, which she did). So it fell to Captain Cuddles to break up the tension and maybe get Pepper to relax. " _A shame, she's quite cute when she's all silent._ " Captain Cuddles thought to himself, then he proceeded to offer the skunk. "Would you be interested in a little game?"

Pepper almost didn't recognize what Captain Cuddles was saying. "Game? Oh yeah, a game! Sure, I think I'm interested, long as it's not 'Pin the Tail On the Skunk' or anything like that."

Captain Cuddles just smiled as he turned around so that his tail was facing towards Pepper. "It's a simple game of tag. I'm sure you know the rules," He explained. "You just have to catch me. Best of luck though, I'm pretty darn fast on my paws." And he took off at a breakneck speed, he was almost a blur of motion!

Not one to back down from a challenge, Pepper narrowed her eyes in determination, and loudly she shouted. "You'd better watch your back, Captain Cuddles! Because I'm coming after you!" Then she too took off, quite fast for a skunk.

* * *

Captain Cuddles was indeed fast, but Pepper was just as fast, and she caught up to him pretty quickly. "Tag, you're it, Captain Cuddles! Keep up with me if you can!" Pepper taunted, turning tail and running as fast as she could.

It did take awhile for Captain Cuddles to catch up to Pepper, and when he did he decided to ramp things up a little in mischievousness. He tackled her (though not too roughly), causing them both to tumble into a bush. "This will be the perfect hiding place," He said to Pepper. "No one will think to look for us here."

"Have you hidden here before, Captain?" Pepper asked, as she shook the leaves out of her tail.

"Oh yes, multiple times in fact," Captain Cuddles replied, as he proudly boasted. "I've hidden in here so often it might as well be my home away from home. In fact, it _was_ my home that until the kind man that was my owner took me home with him."

Pepper gasped! "Wait, you mean you were a _stray_?!"

Captain Cuddles nodded. "I was born in a shelter, but nobody ever wanted me. So I ran away and came here, to Downtown City Park. I made a home in this bush and scavenged for whatever I could get. If I got too dirty I'd just bathe in the river," He hung his head as he added. "I'm ashamed to admit, I got perhaps too attached to the idea of living in the wild. I didn't fully appreciate the gift I'd gotten of a warm home, a proper bath, and pet food. That was, until my first Christmas with my owner. He got me a little pet sweater to wear, and then let me curl up by the fireplace with him."

"You're lucky to have such a caring owner," Pepper commented, having developed new feelings of sympathy for the weasel she adored. "My owner's a total goofball, and he _always_ makes a fool of himself. I get that it's his job to dress up silly and entertain people because of that, but it's just embarrassing having to put up with it at home. And unfortunately, not a lot of people live with us for obvious reasons, hardly anyone wants to live next door to a smelly skunk like me."

"I never once thought you were particularly smelly," Captain Cuddles replied to Pepper. "And I wouldn't be bothered having to live with it if we shared the same living space. Take it from someone who once lived on the street, I know what smelly _really_ is. It's not pretty."

Pepper laughed long and hard, and she could barely retort. "Oh, you want smelly? You should check out my place last time the drains were blocked, boy do I feel sorry for the guy who had to clean all of _that_ out!" As she continued laughing, Pepper was thinking in her mind. " _Come on, Pepper Clark! It's now or never! This may be your_ _ **only**_ _chance! You_ _ **have**_ _to tell him how you feel!_ " Almost on instinct, she blurted out. "Captain Cuddles, I love you!" She instantly regretted that, hastily clamping a paw over her mouth.

Alas, Captain Cuddles had overheard. "So, you love me, Pepper? As in _love_ love me?" All Pepper could do was nod in confirmation. It was then that the weasel replied with a smile. "Well, I love _you_ , Pepper. I was wondering when you'd tell me, because I was debating how to best approach you about all of this."

"B-but, the two of us, we're so, so… different," Pepper commented. "And not to mention the distance, we barely see each other as it is."

"All the more reason why we'll need to make the most of the few opportunities we'll have to just be together." Captain Cuddles explained.

For a moment, the recently confessed lovebirds were content to just stare at each other, tears of happiness in their eyes. Then, they slowly leaned in, and their lips locked together as they shared a long, passionate kiss, the first (and perhaps _only_ ) kiss of their relationship.

* * *

It was now about midday in Downtown City, and the pets were starting to get tired. So they came back to Blythe, informed her of anything she needed to know, and then let her clip the leashes back on them. But when Blythe did a head count, she only counted five heads, and she knew which one was missing. "Has anybody seen Pepper lately?" She asked the pets, hoping for an answer.

All the pets shook their heads. "Uh, sorry, Blythe," Vinnie apologized. "We kind of lost track of her and assumed _you_ knew where she was."

"It's my fault, I'm the one who led everyone else along and got them all riled up for a day of fun." Zoe apologized to Blythe, giving the girl her best pair of pleading eyes.

Blythe didn't seem bothered, she just said to Zoe. "It's alright, I'm sure Pepper couldn't have gone far. She'd know to stay within the park. You'll just have to put that nose of yours to use, and see if you can pick up Pepper's scent."

"Right, will do!" Zoe firmly vowed, and started putting her nose to the air, sniffing for any whiff of her smelly friend.

"Pepper! Pepper!" Blythe and the pets called out, as they scoured the park to no avail.

Suddenly, Zoe paused in her sniffing. "Wait, hold on a minute!" She cautioned, as she sniffed the surrounding air again. "I think I smell… lavender!" She exclaimed and began tracking it. "And it's coming from… that bush over there!"

"You think that's Pepper?" Sunil asked Zoe. "Is it not possible your nose isn't working?"

"Sunil, I know Pepper, and I know she only gives off smells like lavender when she's really happy and trying to look good," Zoe remarked. "It's so beautiful! It smells almost romantic."

Blythe led the pets over to the bush Zoe sensed the lavender was emanating from, and when she pushed back the leaves, they all saw a sight that made their hearts melt.

There was Pepper, right next to Captain Cuddles. The two had fallen asleep in each other's arms with the both of them having soft smiles on their faces. The pets all winked at each other, their secret plan had worked to perfection.

Blythe, suspecting nothing, just carefully bent down and scooped the lovebirds up gently in her arms. "Alright, let's get you two back to the daycare." She whispered softly.

* * *

(5 years later)

"Now Tabitha, Andrea, and yes even you Brian, I hope you'll be on your best behavior today. No funny business," An elderly (and somewhat wrinkly) Pepper cautioned to her triplets, all of whom looked like Pepper when she was just a little skunk. "And no spraying each other in the eyes with your scents, got it?"

The triplets groaned, as they were led by their mother into the familiar day camp of _Littlest Pet Shop_ , which still seemed as fresh and welcoming as it had for Pepper all those years ago (it was a shame that most of her friends had moved away with their owners, at least she still maintained contact with Vinnie, Sunil, and Blythe).

Suddenly, amidst weasel triplets who looked almost as old as the three skunks, Pepper spotted a weasel who looked to be about her age (though he had aged a little bit better and a little less wrinkly). The weasel seemed to spot Pepper from afar, as he slowly walked over to her and asked. "Pepper?"

"Captain Cuddles?" Pepper replied.

"It's been a long time, hasn't it?" Captain Cuddles teased to Pepper. "I see you've been busy. Looks like you went and started a family without me."

Pepper blushed and teased back. "Hey, so did you, apparently." And then the two shared another passionate kiss, while their children just looked on with looks of confusion and childish disgust.


End file.
